Stuffed with sausages, sunburnt and, let's be honest, a little bit smashed from a day of drinking too much in the sun, Australians were flopped on their couches relaxing when President Trump took the podium at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in the snowy Swiss resort town of Davos.

Amid fears the world's Tweeter-in-Chief would unleash a new global trade war, ushering in a new era of protectionism, Trump instead delivered a more statesmanlike speech, declaring: "America First does not mean America alone".

Which shouldn't really have surprised anyone. For all his rhetoric about helping the "lost generation" of middle income Americans, pre-presidential Trump would have not looked out of place amid the chalets, jets and glittering cocktail parties of Davos. Only he would never have been invited, considered too "gauche" – and probably not rich enough – to take seriously.

The reality is that the US under the Trump administration is embarking on more a trade tantrum, than all out trade war.

Illustration: Jim Pavlidis.

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Last week, it imposed protective tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines, designed to protect domestic industries from foreign competition.

But domestic solar companies have warned the tariffs will simply slow the development of the industry overall, by raising the cost for consumers.

Truth is, it is not entirely unusual for Washington to be engaged in some sort of trade skirmish.

President Donald Trump attends a dinner with European business leaders at Davos on Thursday.

Photo: Evan Vucci

Market watchers are unperturbed.

"The US is always engaged in trade conflict, and even longer-duration wars have had little impact on markets outside of reserve currencies," strategists for JP Morgan Securities wrote in a note to clients over the weekend.

The US Department of Commerce has held investigations into unfair foreign trade practices in every year for at least half a century, the analysts found, often resulting in the unilateral imposition of protective tariffs, such as the President imposed last week.

More worrying, perhaps, are comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week that a weaker US currency would be good for US exporters.

That sentiment send the Aussie dollar soaring above US80 cents last week, which is, in turn, bad for our exporters.

But Mnuchin has since backtracked, saying he supports a strong dollar, as Trump has also said. Having come to power labelling China a "currency manipulator", it is unlikely Trump would go beyond jawboning to intervene in the value of the greenback.

Which leaves the world with a lot of hot air about a trade war, but no war. The globalisation process, which is so dear to the hearts of the global business and political titans gathered in Davos, looks safer than ever.

Indeed, after the hammer blow of the global financial crisis, world trade is recovering.

Freight movements in the US, moved by road, rail, pipeline, barge and air grew by 6 per cent in the period between September and November, compared to the same period a year ago.

A synchronised upswing is taking hold across advanced economies that is finally using up spare capacity created by the crisis and fuelling growth.

Sales of US semi-conductors – a key input in electronics and IT devices – are at an all-time high.

The International Monetary Fund last week upgraded its forecast for global growth, marking a return to a period when forecasts are proving too pessimistic – after a long period of undershooting.

All of which is good news for Australia, a nation which has long embraced the benefits of free trade.

Of course, free trade is back in the domestic spotlight after a fresh agreement was reached last week on the decade-old Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative.

The benefits for Australia are likely to be minimal – we already have trade deals with many of the important countries in the deal.

Australian consumers have been enjoying for decades now the benefits of lower tariffs imposed on imported goods – a process that began back under the Hawke government.

It's something I reflected on as I drove to my Australia Day barbecue in a German car, carrying a bottle of French champagne.

In backyard pools all over the nation, we floated on Chinese manufactured unicorns and assorted lilos – surely this summer's latest must-have accessory.

Access to cheaper consumer goods has been one of the major trade-offs in the process of globalisation which has engulfed the world economy in the past few decades.

Sure, some older workers, unable to retrain, have seen their livelihoods destroyed – the rigours of global trade having exposed domestic car and manufacturing industries to permanent closures.

But the jobs we do have today are more likely to last, in companies able to survive free from the life support of government subsidies and protections.

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It's a brave new free trade world we live in, where we view ourselves more as consumers than workers. Where a threatened train strike elicits more concern about how we will all get to work than how fairly our fellow workers will be compensated.